H E A R T S & spades
by kloudz-shall-reign
Summary: Mortal Instruments; City of Bones, Ashes; A half breed stumbling into Manhattan isn't the best thing that can happen, until she brings news of an underground war from overseas making its way to New York.
1. Another Magnus

**Disclaimer- I do not own any of the Mortal Instruments characters. They belong to Cassandra Clare. However, unrecognized characters belong to me.**

Another Magnus

Something was wrong. Very wrong. I was on something… soft. Soft, smooth, only slightly colder than the average human body temperature… Leather. I was on a leather couch, with my head propped up and my one arm pressed between me and the back of the couch. That wasn't right. The last thing I remember was that I was outside, in the freezing New York November weather fighting a demon while the harsh wind blew ice crystals in my face and I fought for a grip to stay upright on the icy surfaces.

Then I started to notice a lot of things about my surroundings, without opening my eyes or moving an inch. In example: It was warm here, not suffocating warm, but a comfortable warm, and I could hear the distant crackle of a fire somewhere else in the room. Like that there was something resting on my stomach, not very heavy, and nice and warm, purring softly with each breath. A cat, I realized. Another revelation was that I wasn't alone.

"…come from?" It was a female's voice, and she sounded irritated, like she was tired of arguing this side of the conversation with whomever she was arguing with. And that's when my head had it. Whatever damage I sustained from my tussle with the demon that caused me to not know how I got from there to here caught up with me like someone just stabbed a railroad spike through my forehead, shattering my skull into a million little pieces. Metaphorically, of course. Figuratively, I was still the exact same as I had been just a second ago, just in a lot worse pain.

A sharp hiss of pain escaped through my teeth against my will, and I suddenly felt… five, six pairs of eyes on me. Apparently, since I got here I hadn't made much noise. The sudden confirmation that I was, in fact, alive and in more than just a breathing and heart-beating state, must have alarmed them.

"Chi picchiare io!?" I groaned breathlessly, clenching my eyes even more tightly shut. I didn't want the blinding vibrancy of colors to add to the ache in my brain that I was already experiencing. After a few seconds of silence where I swear I could have heard a pin drop, I replayed what I'd said and felt like hitting myself in the forehead. Damn my habit for talking in Italian when I first wake up. "Uh, sorry." I mumbled, tilting my head slightly so that if I were to open my eyes I would see the back of the couch. "Bad habit I've been trying to shake."

Twelve more seconds of silence later, and I was ready to peek and see who the hell was staring at me like I'd grown another head. Just as I was contemplating how badly the colors would hurt my head, someone spoke up.

"What's your name?" It wasn't the same voice I heard earlier. No, this time it was a male, who seemed to have an air of authority and cockiness that I instantly didn't like, but also sounded like he had a knack for breaking rules. I frowned, lifting my arm that was pressed between my body and the couch to run through the cat's fur, hearing a small little sound of surprise from the creature and rolling my eyes behind my eyelids at it.

"Magnus." Exactly thirty seconds of silence later, I huffed and my eyes flew opened to look at the people surrounding me, accusation for their silence dripping like venom from my voice. "And what, pre tell, did I say _this time_ to cause such a long silence?" The dizzying blindness of colors and shapes in front of my eyes made my head spin, and I had to fight the urge to dry heave.

"Your name is Magnus?" I looked at the man who said this, letting my eyes focus, and saw spiky black hair with every color of the rainbow mixed in, kind of like when the sun hits a raven's feathers just right, mascara rimmed cat eyes, strong pale features that looked slightly perturbed, and the most outrageous outfit I'd seen since crossing the Atlantic to come into the U.S.. And glitter. Lots and lots of glitter.

I grinned broadly, sitting up slowly and swinging my body around so I was sitting properly on the couch, the cat still somehow staying comfortably in my lap without clawing the shit out of me. "Oh, of course! And I've been teased quite a lot about being your twin, except I always point out that I look abso-friggin-lutely nothing like you, Mr. Bane." I beamed, quite pleased that my vision had returned to its normal sharp clarity. "That is, unless, of course, I do this." I blinked once, and my vision changed ever-so-slightly. It became sharper, more sensitive to light, and the colors became a little bit… weirder. The collective gasp made my grin widen, if that was even possible, and I rolled my eyes, blinking once more to make my eyes return to normal instead of ones of the feline variety.

And back to the damn silence as they all stared at me like I'd just grown another head or cat ears. Though, if I really wanted to, I could do either. I just don't see the point in having another head. _'Fine,'_ I thought, crossing my arms a little self-consciously over my stomach, _'If they're going to stare at me, I may as well stare back.'_ And that's exactly what I did.

As I mentioned, you had Magnus Bane, the bane of my existence due to all of the comments about the fact that I shared a name with him, who was standing all by his lonesome over by the door. A little bit closer, in three of the four chairs that went along in the set with the couch I found myself currently sitting on, were three people. Two of them looked very similar, though they were different genders; they both shared the same black hair and ice blue eyes, and it was obvious that they were siblings. The other person looked little like the others, actually, almost a complete opposite. While they had dark hair, he had honey blonde hair, and while their eyes were blue, he had tawny colored eyes that reminded me of hard butterscotch candy with the way they were guarded.

Two people, closer to the fire across the room, looked very similar to the two teenagers sitting across from me, with dark hair and glacial blue eyes, and it didn't take me long to make the connection that they were a family, with a mom and a dad and a brother and a sister. My eyes narrowed slightly at the thought.

Finally, I sighed in exasperation, tilting my head back on the couch and staring at the ceiling. To my surprise, it was domed. Wow, wasn't expecting that. "Someone say something!"

"Do you know why you're here?" Ooh, the blonde speaks! I looked at him and smiled, pretending to be flattered that he'd spoken. After all, he seemed like the type who I'd just get annoyed with and end up wanting to punch.

"Duh," I mumbled glumly, my smiled disappearing as soon as I opened my mouth to speak. "I was fighting a demon, obviously something happened that caused me to black out, someone here found me, and was oh so kind enough to bring me back." I paused for a second, and the stab of pain in the back of my head seemed to want me to remind them of something else. "Oh, and whatever caused me to black out probably has something to do with, I dunno, my head colliding with a wall or cement."

"She'll get along so well with you Nephilim," Magnus commented, seeming amused by this prospect. The idea of why I would get along well with anyone caused my eyebrows to knit together and the corners of my lips to turn downwards in a frown. Did he not gather that I didn't play well with others? Wait, I hadn't told them that yet. Sighing, I rolled my eyes and looked down at the cat perched delightedly on my lap, enjoying the attention it was getting. It was a Russian Blue, by the looks of it, a tad on the chubby side, and from what I could see through the slits between its squinted eyelids, it had bright amber eyes.

"You don't know very much about me, do you?" I mused, not looking up from inspecting the feline's face and stroking my fingers over its ears. The imagined sound of stones rattling around in their heads when they shook their heads cracked a grin across my face. "Then let me tell you a little bit about myself. For starters, my name is Magnus Blaine. Yes, my parents have a crude sense of humor. Then again, they never anticipated I'd end up in the Brooklyn area." I peeked out of the corner of my eye to gauge Magnus's reaction. "If it helps, I go by Kota, as in Dakota. It's my middle name."

"I was born in Italy, accounting for my knowledge of Italian, but I've lived in France for a time before I got shipped over here by the Clave. Oh, and I am Nephilim, technically." My warning glare was enough to keep them from asking any questions about 'What did I mean, technically?' or 'Why did the Clave ship you over here?' "My dad is a Nephilim, while my mom is a warlock, witch, whatever. Let's just say I've always had the weirdest genetic make-up in the family. Everyone else is either strictly Shadowhunter or strictly warlock. I have an older brother and an older sister, as well as a younger brother, all of them still back in France, though we still keep in touch. But I have another family that extends beyond blood, who are much closer to me, both in the literal and figurative sense. They're actually somewhere in the city, probably wondering where the hell I am, and they're my best friends. We often claim that we're siblings who were separated at birth."

It was times like this when I really wished that I had Cali with me, to unceremoniously break the silence with some random outburst about how she had a split-end or chipped nail polish. Never, repeat never, would I be good at doing something like that.

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**A/N- Well, there you have it! The first chapter! You'll meet more of the creations of my mind besides Kota in the next chapter, but first I'd like to know what you thought of this one. So, hit the little purple-gray-ish button and review, please! Oh, and what she says in Italian is supposed to be "Who hit me!?", because she's wondering who hit her hard enough to shatter her skull. -shrugs- Figured you'd wanna know. Anyhoo, REVIEW!**

-Kloudz-

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	2. Icy Friends

**Disclaimer- Mortal Instruments belongs to Cassandra Clare, not me.**

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Icy Friends

Tromping through the slushy, freezing streets of Manhattan, with snow blowing into my face and melting on contact with my skin, was not what I called fun, but I needed to get away from the people who had taken to staring at me like I had four heads, five limbs, and the eyes of a spider. Okay, so a few of those people felt the need to trail me while I went to retrieve my stuff from where I'd stashed it in the alley a few blocks from where the blonde- _'Jace,'_ I corrected myself- found me fighting the demon. I could just use my magic, I was, after all, half warlock, or witch, or whatever, to retrieve my messenger bag, but I needed the illusion of privacy right now, so freezing my ass off it was.

The arm that was suddenly held in front of me, the hand holding- or offering- a jacket registered in my mind as an obstacle, and the logical thing to do with an obstacle is avoid it, right? So, I just ducked down, stopped walking, and with my sometimes fortunate luck, managed to slide on the icy sidewalk right under Alec's arm before turning on my heel as I straightened up to shoot him a toothy grin, half forcing my teeth to keep from chattering. A shudder rolled down my spine, and I could feel the goosebumps on my arms under the thin cotton of my white long-sleeved t-shirt. Without my permission, I found my eyes glancing wearily toward the jacket being offered to me, while my mind starting to calculate the chances of my freezing to death before we got back to the Institute.

With a defeated sigh, I held out my hand, crossing my other arm over my chest to try and suppress another shiver. Why, oh why, did it have to be so cold in November!? Grinning triumphantly, Alec dropped the jacket into my hand, watching amusedly as I quickly pulled it on and then hugged my arms to my chest. I shot him another annoyed look, and then begrudgingly eyed how warm he looked in that damn fur-lined winter coat. Letting out a shaky breath of air that clouded before my eyes, I turned on my heel and returned to stalking toward my destination, focusing on someplace warm, like the Caribbean, where I would have greatly loved to be.

"You know, you don't have to be so stubborn." Alec pointed out, easily catching up to me and then falling into step beside me. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, and snorted.

"Yeah, and Jace doesn't have to be an ass." I mumbled, my gaze sweeping to the side to scope over the mouths of each alley that we passed. Without any indication, I turned abruptly into the one I was positive I'd left my messenger bag in. Scooping the bag up from where it was hidden behind garbage bags, I swung it over my shoulder, glad to have the reassuringly familiar weight resting against my hip and lower back as I stepped back into the main road to tap Alec on the shoulder. It was funny to see his head looking back and forth so rapidly, trying out figure out which alley I'd disappeared into. He gave me a confused look, and then turned and started walking back the way we'd come.

"I don't see why it was necessary for you to… accompany me while I picked up my stuff, Alec." I said after what felt like an unbearable time of silence that had probably only been a few short minutes. I'd already counted the buttons on my bag to make sure they were all there, and come to the conclusion that, yes, all thirteen were accounted for, which left me with nothing to do. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alec give me a look that said "You're kidding, right?" So, I shook my head in response to his unasked question.

"We wanted to make sure you didn't try anything stupid, like running." He paused to give me what I guessed was supposed to be a stern look advising me to wipe the idea from my mind. Sadly, sternness was lost on me unless there was an accompanying threat or sense of danger. "And in case another demon tried to attack you, we figured it'd be better it you weren't alone in ca-" I held up a hand to silence him, now scowling at the people in front of me who could neither see nor hear me or Alec as we nimbly dodged through them. He'd been about to say "in case something like earlier happens", but being the stubborn person I was, I didn't want to hear it.

The rest of the walk back to the Institute was spent in an uneasy silence that neither of us could bear to break. A block away, when the church came into view, the silence got to me and I reached into the side pocket of my bag and pulled out a Voyager cell phone. With the cell phone in my hands, I forgot the number that I had dialed so many times before. Sighing, I closed my eyes and didn't think about it, just let my thumb press the numbers from memory.

I was well aware of Alec's eyes on me as I brought the phone up to my ear, listening as it rang once… twice…

"Kota!" I couldn't help but grin at the expected relief in Sigma's… wait a minute.

"Hey Sigma," I said, calmly cutting him off from the uncharacteristic rant he'd delved into. "Not that I'm not happy to hear you, but where's Cali? I could've sworn I dialed her number." The following six second pause made me start to panic, thinking the absolute worst as I switched the phone from one ear to the other. Sigma's unsure voice only just snapped me out of it.

"Uh, Kota… I hate to break it to you, but you kinda forced our hand." I was already shaking my head, sprinting the last fifty meters to the Institute and taking the front stairs two at a time. "We're at the Institute. Cal's talking to the Lightwoods right now." I hung up, flinging myself into the old church and flat out running in between the pews to get to the elevator in the back, only vaguely aware of Alec hot on my tail.

Jabbing the button for the elevator repeatedly, I tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for the first sign of the doors opening. "Come _on_," I mumbled, shoving m phone back in my bag just as a loud _ding! _sounded. There was no one in the elevator when I stepped on, and quickly jabbed the right floor. I would've kept pressing the button had Alec not grabbed my elbow to restrain me from doing so.

•••

Why this place was designed like a maze, I'd never know, I was resigned to following Alec, who didn't seem to comprehend my need to get to where everyone else was quickly, despite my constant nagging and prodding him in the shoulder or side. I finally recognized the hallway that led to the library, and when the door into said room opened, I was ready to go off on a rant calling Cali, Sigma, even Orion and Olivia -if they were here- that they were complete idiots who had no faith in me, etc. Before I could go off with my tirade, though, I was literally tackled to the ground. It took me a millisecond to realize that it wasn't a rock that had tackled me, but Sigma and Orion.

"Thank the angel" Orion sighed, his breath tickling my neck.

"We thought we'd lost you!" Sigma agreed, tightening his grip around my waist. In that second I realized how this must look, and quickly kicked at the nearest set of limbs, I think managing to hit each of their legs.

"Guys!" I hissed, glaring at them both. "We all know you're only glad I'm still here so you can get free stuff, so get the hell off of my before I ban Starbucks for a month!" It was amazing what threatening to take away free coffee could make these two do, considering how quickly the scrambled away from me. I got to my feet, dusting off my jeans- I hadn't realized how severely torn they'd gotten since I last looked at them… I blame the fight with the demon- and walked into the library with my hands on my hips, glaring daggers at Orion and Sigma. In response, the redhead and black-haired male, respectively, ducked their heads to try and hide behind Olivia. It was funny, actually, considering the two were both at least six feet tall, whereas poor little Olivia just scratched five feet. At least she was still growing, being only fourteen and the baby of the group as well as Orion's little sister. I was only a couple of inches taller than her, and I'd stopped growing three years ago.

"MAG!" At least this time I was semi-prepared for the tackle, so I managed to keep my footing and only had the breath knocked from my lungs as I was engulfed in a bone-crushing hug by my blonde best friend.

"Cali…" I gasped, trying to pry myself free. "First… Can't breathe." She let go off me quickly, taking a step away with her hands still in the air in the classic 'I surrender' pose. Her blue eyes were shining in an attempt at innocence, and I cracked a smirk. "Second, how many times have I told you not to call me Mag?"

Before I could continue, she cut me off. "Three thousand, seven hundred thirteen."

"As I was saying, smart ass, call Magnus" I pointed in the direction of the sparkly warlock's loft, considering he wasn't in the room. "Mag. Call me Kota. Otherwise, I'm gonna start calling you-" The hand clamped over my mouth cut my off, and I glared playfully at her.

"Mag… hmm, maybe that'll piss the warlock off." Leave it to Isabelle to ruin the reunion. I'm just surprised it wasn't Jace.

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**A/N- Alrighty, the latest chapter's done! And I have no school tomorrow, so I might just get get chapter three up. Not making any promises, but you never know. I wanna know: What do you like, what do you not like, who do you think iis going to be your favorite character, so on and so forth. And the only way you can let me know is to REVIEW!**

-Kloudz-


	3. No Going Black

**Disclaimer- I own nothing more than the idea. Cassandra Clare owns the characters and everything else that's important.  
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No Going Black

On the couch, squished between Alec and Cali, is where I currently found myself three hours later. Apparently, the Institute kids loved my friends. Not as much as I did, but still. Even Magnus, who'd shown up an hour ago, had found someone he could get along with.

Jace and Sig were busy talking strategies in different fight scenarios, and I could see the gleam in Sigma's silvery gray eyes behind his sleek, business-like glasses that he was enjoying this way too much. This is what he did all the time back at our loft or flat or whatever the hell you felt like calling it, except no one ever bothered to listen to him until we were actually in a situation when we needed to. Now Jace was eating it up, and Sigma was enjoying having an audience.

Orion, whose straightness we girls had always questioned until he and Cali had a fling after drinking too much wine in Paris, was talking enthusiastically with Isabelle about fashion, gesturing wildly to get his point across. Isabelle, surprisingly, was gesturing as well, not quiet as wildly as the redhead sitting across from her, but the fact that she was still so absorbed in the conversation impressed me.

The eldest Lightwood had taken to hanging out with me and Cali, and it wasn't long until Alec could jump into the conversation using some of our inside jokes and phrases- English or otherwise- correctly. So we were busy having a random conversation that followed mine and Cali's train of thought. In other words, it went from where I'd been, to how my jeans got ripped, to shopping, to magic tricks and how pathetic the stereotyped ones were, to rabbits, to pets we'd had, and then it went on again and again.

Most shocking of all, though, seemed to be the fact that Olivia- fourteen-year-old, strawberry blonde green-eyed, usually very bubbly and energetic Olivia- was connecting with Magnus. At first there was wild gesturing and snapping from her, and I realized at the first snap that she was imitating me doing magic. Frowning, I snapped; a small action that wouldn't have caught any attention anywhere else. But here, Olivia's head whirled around to look at me with frightened eyes like my snap would bring down a bolt of lightening right where she sat. So, needless to say, when a balled up t-shirt appeared in her hand with a small puff of smoke, she eyed it apprehensively like it would blow up any second. No, a t-shirt that says "Shut up" would get my point across, and scare the crap out of poor little Livy.

I didn't know what they were talking about now, but by the way Olivia was blushing and giggling, but trying to keep a straight face, I assumed it was something that I, as one of her adopted older siblings, would not approve of. However, it couldn't have been that bad, because Max kept floating between listening to that conversation, sitting on the floor next to Olivia's chair, to listening and discussing with Jace and Sigma, sitting on the floor next to either of them. The kid reminded me immensely of a puppy; loyal, cute, and can't make up its mind about what it wants.

"Crap!" I looked at Isabelle in surprise, and then to Alec to see if he knew what his sister had just realized. He shrugged, so I turned my attention back to the model perfect teenager who had suddenly gotten to her feet and was pacing, seeming near panic mode.

"Care to expand on that so we might be able to help?" Cali asked, only to be shot a glare, which she rapidly returned.

"I have to make dinner." Now Alec, Jace, and Max were worried as well, and I wondered why. I made the mistake of pondering this question out loud, and nearly got my head bitten off.

"Isabelle can't cook!" came the chorused response. I shrank back into the couch, ducking my head.

"Sorry," I mumbled at the same time that Olivia piped up with: "Oh! Mag can cook!" and pointed to me. I glared at her, both for calling me Mag and for pointing out this tidbit of information without asking my permission. Now four eager pairs of eyes were looking at me desperately, and I gave a resigned sigh. Heaving myself to my feet, I cast a glare in Livy's direction as I stalked past her toward the kitchen, Church appearing almost out of nowhere to lead me where I needed to go.

•••

"Ew, gross, no way," I mumbled as I threw out a lot of stuff that was in the fridge. Trying to find something worthy of being cooked for a dinner for the Lightwoods- especially Maryse who, in all honesty, scared me a little- in their kitchen wasn't proving to be as easy as I'd hoped it'd be. So now I found myself standing in the middle of the room, hands on my hips, looking into all of the opened shelves and trying to figure out what to make. The question was: What sounded good enough to eat? My eyes lit up when an idea hit me, and I closed my eyes quickly. "Oh Sigma, I need a mental connection." I sang to myself.

After a few seconds, there was a grunt that sounded inside of my head, and I took that as my response to continue. "Would you do me a major positive and ask everyone how they like their steaks? And if anyone's allergic to shellfish?"

There was a pause, and then Sigma's voice rang inside my head. "Two rare, five medium rare, three medium, two medium well, and one well. And no one's allergic to shellfish or anything you're going to put in this, if I know what you're making." I'd done the math; thirteen steaks. Bleep. So we were having company? "Magnus is staying and we're having company, yes." I hated it when he did that. So I just turned on my heel and set off to work in the unfamiliar kitchen, magicing in some steaks that we had from our loft. I had this thing against stealing things, even if I had the power to.

•••

After setting the table in what looked like a rarely used dining room, I stepped back to admire my work. Each plate had a nice big steak- I prayed they were placed in the right spot, I'd asked Max when he came in with Sigma to see how I was doing- cooked exactly as requested to my family's secret recipe of spices, with wild mushrooms and a dish of creamy crab cake. The best non-alcoholic champagne from out loft that I could think of was set in the middle of the table, and glasses were sitting at each place, waiting to be filled with the limitless supply I knew how to conjure up.

A low whistle from the door made me turn my head away from my hard work to see who had made the sound. I was rewarded with the sight of Alec and Isabelle, both looking impressed and/or stunned as they stared at the table in front of them.

"Oh. My. God." Isabelle breathed, her gaze turning to meet mine. "Can you cook every night!?" I laughed and shook my head, leaning against what was going to be my seat. If they touched my mediumly cooked steak, I was going to stab someone with a fork.

"Sorry, but cooking for five is enough of a challenge. Thirteen, give or take, is asking too much of me." I apologized, watching out of the corner of my eye as everyone else filed in, including Mr. and Mrs. Lightwood, and a redhead girl that I didn't know. I smiled kindly at her, and watched intently as she smiled back and sat between Jace and Max. It was weird, it felt like I knew all of these people; so why didn't I know this girl?

We ate. We talked. They all tried to push the fabulous dinner on me, I tried to push it on Livy so that next time the Lightwoods wanted it, they'd go and ask her for the recipe, but the girl wouldn't take the credit. Just as we were about to finish and do whatever it was that Shadowhunters and warlocks did after eating a meal, Magnus piped up with an interesting bit of information.

"I'm having a party tomorrow night, if any of you Nephilim want to come." What was it with him and calling us Nephilim? I made a mental note to refer to him as "warlock" whenever he was within earshot. Too bad I was thinking that, I would've noticed Cali's evil grin that was shot my way, and I would've noticed the glare that was sent Jace's way from Isabelle.

"No black." she said simply, and I thought that she was simply addressing Jace until she turned to look at the entire table with a heavy glare. Cali and I exchanged glances before turning to her with our most serious faces on and saluting.

"That shouldn't be a problem, Fashionista Lightwood." I said, blocking out everyone else's snickering to keep my poker face. In all honesty, it shouldn't be a problem; I usually wore white, Cali blue, Sigma red, Olivia anything bright. It was Orion who we were going to have trouble with… I'd have to convince him to wear green or something.

"No miss, we'll make sure no one under our command wears black." She shot me an evil glance and we both turned our gaze to look sternly at Orion, who was currently wearing a black t-shirt as if to help prove how much of a challenge this was going to be.

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**A/N- Two chapters in less than twenty-four hours! I'm proud of myself. And, since I'm in such a good mood, I'm going to give you guys a preview of the next chapter in quotes.**

I repeat: What the hell happened to me!? I thought I was the one who could work magic!- Kota (narration)

"He lives! And he owns pants that aren't leather!"- Cali

"You two are literally sucking all the fun out of the air."- Orion

"You know damn well that I can't make you dance with me."- Kota

I rested my arms on his shoulders, crossing my wrists loosely behind his neck; a grip he could easily break free of if he really wanted to. I couldn't exactly say the same about his grip on me, but I wasn't complaining like I normally would have.- Kota (narration)

I wanted to have one of those girly moments where everyone and everything else stopped and said "awwwww!" or "how cute!"- Kota (narration)

**Yes, I know I'm evil. I specifically chose ones that give away everything, but at the same time give away nothing, if that makes sense. The sooner you review, the sooner you'll get to read the next chapter! **

**-Kloudz-**


	4. Strobe Lights and Shimmer

**Disclaimer- Mortal Instruments belongs to Cassandra Clare.**

Strobe lights and shimmer

I sat in a chair in front of the mirror in my room, my back deliberately turned toward from the vile reflective surface that would show me how I looked while Cali and Olivia hovered above me, making sure that I looked absolutely perfect for Magnus's party. They knew I had no fashion sense when it came to things like dresses and heels, and I knew where to draw the line and admit defeat, so I had willingly submitted myself to their torture called dress-up for the past three hours while they tried to find the perfect outfit for me.

"No highlights." They both declared at the same time, as if they shared one mind and had just decided the same thing. With a sigh, I snapped my fingers to make the magic highlights, previously a nice light green somewhere between lime and mint, disappear so that my hair would be just plain. Boring, in my opinion, but I wasn't in charge at the moment. The second the party was over, I could have orange and blue highlights with pink and yellow tips for all they cared.

With a satisfied nod, Cali stepped away from me and allowed me to turn the chair around, seeing how I looked for the first time since they sat me down. Usually I gave my opinion without looking too much at myself; after all, I'm not vain or a narcissist. But this time all I could do was stare, at loss for words to describe what I was seeing. Cali and Olivia had never really dressed me up before, I suppose.

My long-ish (it fell about four inches past my shoulders, and I considered that long) dark chocolate colored hair was straight, as per usual, with my bangs falling into a part and just barely covering the corners of my midnight blue eyes. But it looked weird not to have any highlights in it. It looked more normal… it made me seem more approachable and less out-of-the-ordinary right off the bat. I kinda liked it. Little touches of makeup, like shimmering white eye-shadow, a rim of black eyeliner, and a thin coat of light pink lip gloss accentuated the features of my heart-shaped face, especially my eyes, the main goal. I could've sworn my pale skin was glowing, which never happened unless I was laughing my head off. Right now, I was frowning, my eyebrows pulled together in mild confusion, my forehead creased slightly in anxiety as I tried to figure out what they'd done to me.

A white halter dress hugged my tiny frame in all the right places, but not too tight that it looked trashy or that you could see anything that shouldn't be seen, with the bottom hem ending just at my first knuckle when my harms hung by my sides, leaving my legs showing while they were usually covered by jeans, seeing as how I had this issue with shorts and skirts, even dresses. However, I wasn't getting out of wearing a dress tonight. Thankfully, Olivia, being the kind-hearted friend she is, had been nice enough to convince Cali to let me wear a cropped dark-wash denim jacket so I wouldn't die of cold. Curse my being a freezebaby. Accessories like strappy, metallic, blood red peep-toe stiletto heels, a chunky silver bracelet with a black rune design, and a blood red beaded bracelet with a rune that would be very helpful in the event I needed to punch someone, since I was forbidden from actually branding myself tonight added little pops of color to the outfit. Three sets of hoop earrings in varying sizes finished off the outfit and made me wonder what the hell had happened to me. I repeat: What the hell happened to me!? I thought I was the one who could work magic!

"You guys," I whined, crossing my arms self-consciously over my stomach and backing away from the mirror in disbelief. That wasn't me I was looking at; it couldn't be. "I can not go to party like this! Do you-"

"Have any idea how many guys will hit on you?" Cali cut me off, stepping up behind me and wrapping her arms around me, almost like a hug, to grab my wrists forcefully and pry my arms away from my torso. She held them by my side, and looked over my shoulder, staring into my eyes through the reflection in the mirror. "Yes, actually, I do. A lot. That's half the point, honey." And then she winked, like she knew something I didn't, and I was instantly confused. Great, confusion on top of self consciousness on top of anger. Joy. Huffing, I bowed my head in defeat after holding her gaze in a glare for a minute, and Cali and Olivia instantly looped their arms through mine, dragging me through the door to the car that was waiting for us down at the entrance of our loft. They'd learned to spring on my moments of willingness before I decided to change my mind.

•••

A familiar mundane song that I'd never liked enough to catch the name of but had been playing on a lot of radio stations and in clubs around New York was distinctly audible as we stood outside of Magnus's building, Orion pressing the buzzer so many times I was surprised he hadn't broken the poor contraption. I had my arms crossed over my chest, currently not because I was self conscious, but because I was freezing. I was standing in the snow, for the angel's sake, wearing a skirt that barely reached the middle of my thigh! My teeth were literally chattering as I glared up at the windows, silently willing Magnus to open the damn door before I froze to death.

Just as I was willing the one with whom I shared a name a slow and painful, cruel and unusual death, the door opened revealing the warlock himself in all of his glitter and eyeliner glory. I had to fight the urge to burst into hysterics at the sight of Magnus, standing in the doorway, positively shimmering with glitter, wearing skin tight faded jeans and a turquoise leather jacket, with strobe and colorful lights flashing behind him and music blaring in the background. He seemed far too much at home right now.

"Well, what'dya know?" Cali asked, elbowing me lightly in the side, causing me to flinch away from her slightly. The grin on her face was contagious to me, but wiped Magnus's right off. "He lives! And he owns pants that aren't leather!" I snickered, and Sigma flat out laughed.

Magnus merely rolled his eyes, mumbling something under his breath about Nephilim that was lost in the bass of the dance music. A little louder, obviously meant for us to hear, he added "You're late. The others are already here." Interpreting that as an invitation to come in, even if it wasn't, I pushed past him into the warm loft that was crammed with bodies that were aimlessly moving. They were either walking from here to there, or were dancing to the strong beat that the music provided, but very few people were sitting still. It seemed impossible to stand still. Though, there seemed to be two, I realized as a couch in the middle of the sea of bodies came into view. Jace and Clary.

I snagged Orion's arm as he went to walk past me, and I nodded toward the two. I didn't even have to say my plan to make him grin like the Cheshire cat. He grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the couch without wasting any time, stopping in front of Clary while I was in front of Jace.

"You two are literally sucking all the fun out of the air." he sniffed matter-of-factly, and I giggled. He was an empath, he would know. "So, are you fun suckers just going to suck the fun out of everything all night, or actually enjoy yourselves while you're here?" I wondered how many times he was going to say fun sucker, or variations there of, before Jace got fed up with it. Clary's shoulders were already shaking as she tried to hold in her laughter. Orion noticed, too. He let go of my hand and offered his arm to Clary, grinning like the big dolt he was, until she took his arm and he steered her off to go dance. I just gave Jace a stern look when he opened his mouth to protest the action.

Flopping down on the couch next to him, I prodded him in the side, surprised he didn't grab my wrist before I actually made contact. I knew he was perfectly capable of doing just that. "Don't worry about it," I reassured, smiling at him. "Orion and Cali have this thing going on, so all that's going to go on between him and Clary is dancing." In the split second that his golden eyes weren't guarded, I saw that he was unconvinced, but I didn't try to prove to him that Orion was faithful to Cali. That was their deal; they could defend themselves when the time came. So instead, I went for option two: Distraction.

A small shock went through my hand when I grabbed Jace's, but I brushed the thought off as static electricity or something like that. I got to my feet, and tugged at Jace's hand, sticking out my bottom lip and pouting until he finally sighed and pulled himself to his feet. "So you're going to make me dance with you?" I hit him in the arm for that one, my eyes narrowing into a glare while an arrogant grin spread across his face.

"You know damn well that I can't make you dance with me." My voice trailed off near the end of the sentence as I realized that I technically could make him, if I really wanted to, and I just glared at him again. But then the song changed, and I had reason to glare in the direction of the DJ for playing a slow song as Jace towed me after him to the dance floor where everyone had taken to slow-dancing. Now I was regretting this…

Jace wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me flush against his chest and catching me off guard, making me look up at him like he'd just lost his mind until I remembered the current situation. The blush heating my cheeks made me quickly look away in a false hope that maybe he wouldn't have noticed. Of course he did; he was Jace freaking Wayland, who never missed a detail that was right under his nose. I rested my arms on his shoulders, crossing my wrists loosely behind his neck; a grip he could easily break free of if he really wanted to. I couldn't exactly say the same about his grip on me, but I wasn't complaining like I normally would have.

It took me a while- sense of time was lost on me right now-to realize that we were actually moving in time to the music, along with everyone else around us. I'd been so lost in my own thoughts about, well, nothing, to realize my feet had been moving. _'Pathetic,'_ I chastised myself.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of red in the lights, and realized that the lights were white. My head swiveled, and I saw Clary with her head on Orion's chest, arms wrapped around his neck while his were wrapped securely around her waist and his chin resting atop her head. I wanted to have one of those girly moments where everyone and everything else stopped and said "awwwww!" or "how cute!"

"Magnus?" I looked at Jace, for a second wondering if the High Warlock of Brooklyn had showed up or if he was talking to me. When my eyes met his which were waiting for me to look at him, I quickly eliminated the first possibility.

"Hmm?" I asked to prompt him when he was silent, even though I was now holding his gaze. The way his eyes delved into mine, like he was trying to figure out what was going on inside my mind, unnerved me a little. My instinct told me to look away, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. It's like I was thrown into a hypnotic state by the way the strobe lights made the colors in his eyes swirl, and the way the changing colored lights made his hair and skin change colors. That added with the beat of the music pounding in my veins and the feel of his arms around my waist had cast me into a trance that wasn't going to easily be broken.

"Magnus Dakota Blaine!" And then Cali pulled me away from Jace, a little more violently than she probably intended, and started pulling me through the crowd of people. It was amazing how scared I could be of a girl in a royal blue strapless dress and strappy silver heels.

* * *

**A/N: Mwuhahaha! Oh yes, I threw in a cliify just to annoy people. Review and let me know what you think!**


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